Oil prices reversed course on Wednesday after rising over 1% in the previous session, on a firmer dollar and as investors shrugged off jitters arising from supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Brent crude futures were down by 67 cents to $89.37 a barrel
at 0822 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures traded at $86.05
a barrel, also down 64 cents.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was at 104.75,
not far off the six-month high of 104.90 touched overnight. A stronger dollar
can weigh on oil demand by making the fuel more expensive for holders of other
currencies.
"The reason the market gave back half of the gains and
is listless this morning, is because within the language of the joint
announcement there is a caveat that these cuts will be reviewed on a monthly
basis," said John Evans of oil broker PVM.
"This flexibility add-in allows for wiggle room, but the market smells a taper," he said, citing conditions like anti-inflation battles in the U.S. and other countries, whether crude prices near $100 a barrel, or the effect on Saudi oil revenues.
Reflecting supply concerns in the near term, the front-month
Brent futures traded near 9-month highs at $4.13 a barrel above prices in six
months.
For U.S. WTI futures, the spread between front-month and the
six-month contract widened to as much as $4.88 a barrel on Wednesday, also
hovering near nine-month highs.
Saudi Arabia and Russia on Tuesday extended their voluntary
oil cuts to the end of the year, the former to the tune of 1 million barrels
per day (bpd) and the latter by 300,000 bpd. These are on top of the April cut
agreed by several OPEC+ producers running to the end of 2024.
Both countries will review their decisions monthly to consider
deepening cuts or raising output depending on market conditions.
But rising oil prices could be restrained if crude demand
dips as U.S. refineries enter their September-October maintenance period, said
Sugandha Sachdeva of Acme Investment Advisors.
Elsewhere, Iranian crude supply rises could hobble price
gains: "Iran is producing close to 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd) and
plans to pump around 3.4 million bpd," ING Economics analysts noted.